Pack rallies falls short vs. top-ranked Metro

Ralph Turner felt sorry for the fans who left Massari Arena at halftime on Friday night.

“They missed a good one — at least part of a good one or half of a good one,” Turner said after his Colorado State University-Pueblo men’s basketball team lost to No. 1-ranked Metro State 77-67.

He might have felt sorry for them, but he could hardly blame them.

The ThunderWolves (14-11, 12-9) trailed by 26 at one point and 20 at intermission. They appeared outplayed, outhustled and outclassed by a Roadrunners squad who was trying to set a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference record for wins in a season.

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“They rolled us in that first half,” Turner said. “They beat us in every way, in every aspect of the game. I told coach (Tommy) Johnson that I was going to give us seven minutes in the second half. If we didn’t show signs of life, I was going to rest our starters for (tonight).”

The ThunderWolves showed more than signs of life – they showed heart, guts and determination. Rather than play timid like they did early, the challenged the Roadrunners and hit back.

The Pack was able to cut the lead to 10 with 8:20 to go and a highlight-reel dunk from Julian Caldwell cut the gap to just five points at 64-59.

But several of Metro’s many leaders stepped up. Mitch McCarron had back-to-back dunks, neither as pretty as Caldwell’s, but both as effective and they restored order for the Roadrunners.

“Our problem in the second half is that we didn’t convert, even when we had layups and easy shots,” Turner said. “We had 14 turnovers and gave up 14 offensive rebounds.

“You can guard them pretty good on their first shots, but they’re pretty good on their second and third shots.”

The Roadrunners are trying to go undefeated in RMAC play for the second time (2004). The only other team to go undefeated in conference was Fort Hays (34-0), when it won the national championship in 1996.

Their lone loss came against Western Washington, 72-69, in November.

Metro’s Brandon Jefferson led all scorers with 20 points before fouling out.